Where birds meet

Day 4
2011-01-12
Ballestas Island & The Candelabra

The Candelabra

Our tour started at 8 in the morning and so we hit the pier to catch our speedboat. Once on board the 45 minutes ride started with a short stop at the candelabra. We stopped to watch the candelabra-like formation on a hill and continued on to the Ballestas Islands to watch the sea lions, the variety of birds, penguins and the majestic rock formations.

Sea Lions

It was interesting to see, how animals live in peace with each other on such a small spot. The water and the rocks were full of birds and sea lions just floating or diving for food. The skies were black from the swarms of birds rising from time to time and everything they did showed so much synchronicity...they seemed to have a silent agreement on when to fly, in which direction to fly and when to land again. Awkward!

Once back near the pier we even saw some dolphins coming out of the water. Unfortunately they were too fast to capture them on a photo.

Birds everywhere

After a nice lunch in Paracas at the ocean front we walked the beach for quite a while and then stopped on the way back to catch some sun. It was nice to watch the people, children, ice vendors and animals hanging out on the beach. It was very loud but peaceful at the same time cause you could see how those peoples lifes happened partly on the beach.

In the afternoon we continued our journey and took the bus to Nazca where we arrived in the evening. After a quick meal at a nice local bar this day ended in a nice small hostal in the center of the city which - to be honest - hasnt't much more to offer than the Nazca Lines. The room was quite simple but we liked the pink walls and the comfortable beds. By the way - the beds in Peru are AMAZING...in all of Peru!

Down the Pan-Americana

Day 3

2011-01-11
On our way to Paracas 

The pier @ Paracas

Our roadtrip started on day 3. We spent part of the morning having breakfast and organizing our further activities. Around noon we went to the local bus terminal and got a ticket to our next station – Paracas. The departure time was almost 3 hours later, so we decided to walk to a nearby area with an olive park and a pyramid that goes back to the pre-inca time.

Once back to the bus terminal we tried to find out how things work in Peru and we were thrilled by the fact, that it was very well organized. There was a baggage drop off station in the terminal and we even had a choice on what menu we wanted to be served on board. So…once we boarded the bus, we found ourselves in the VIP class which meant: seats that reclined so much that it was almost a flat bed…the next 3,5 hour’s drive would be excitingly comfortable driving down the Pan-Americana.

3 hours later we arrived in Paracas, a nice little town at the coastline of Peru. The weather was amazing. It was warm and sunny and we left the bus to find a hotel. What we came up with was the “El Pirata”…a nice hostal only 5 minutes from the beach with a beautiful terrasse heading the ocean!

Paracas beach

Time to hit the beach! Since it was almost 5 pm the sun already started setting and the lights came on. It was beyond imagination: The beach, the sunset, the fishing boats…it was breathtaking! After a nice walk on the beach we were ready for dinner and went to a nice restaurant at the beach that served fresh fish and a wonderful Pisco Sour. One of the waitresses was also a tour manager for the Ballestas Islands and so we got our tickets for the tour the next morning.

Our first day in Lima

Day 2
2011-01-10
Miraflores/Lima 

The coastline

The second day was filled by checking out the area of Miraflores. We had breakfast in the hotel before heading out to explore the surroundings. Our first walk took us to the coastline of Lima. The wonderful steep coast was pretty amazing. It’s not the classical beauty of a beach with white sand, palm trees and so on but it’s definitely a beautiful spot. The waves are pretty impressive and so the surfers were rushing into the water to take their best shot on riding them. It was awesome to be able to walk along the beach with the pacific in front of us. It was so calm and we could just hear the sound of the ocean. 

Later on we went to the shopping area in Miraflores and we were pretty amazed by the fact that the city is very clean. We walked to different spots with a great view on the ocean – one of which is Larcomar with lots of restaurants and shops. 

After that we went to a big artisan market called “The Indian Market” nearby the hotel. It was pretty amazing to see all those handcrafted goods. Instruments, textiles, clothes, statues, masks, jewellery and many more were the things the local people were selling in small shops. 

In the evening we had a wonderful Peruvian dinner nearby Kennedy Park in Miraflores. We were pretty amazed about the flavors and the taste of the amazing dinner.

The trip to Lima

Day 1

2011-01-09
Frankfurt - Bogotá - Lima 

My trip starts in Munich where I took my flight to Frankfurt. Everything went fine and I got to Frankfurt with enough time to catch my flight to Bogotá/Colombia. I met Chris – who was going to come with me on that trip – at the baggage claim – as planned. After having checked in we had still enough time to talk about our plans for the next 3 weeks.

LH 542 FRA-BOG

Once we were on board our flight to Bogotá, the excitement started to set in and the real deal began. It was a pretty smooth flight and after round about 11 hours we hit Colombian ground. After 2 hours we took our last flight from Bogotá to Lima/Peru which was a blast, too. I’ve never flown in such a comfortable economy class with in seat video systems and wonderful seats.

At around half past midnight local Peruvian time we touched down at Lima El Dorado Airport. We went to the baggage claim and got our luggage before heading to the arrival area. It was planned that a driver should pick us up and bring us to our hotel in Miraflores/Lima. And there he was – with my name on his sign.

El Patio - Lima Miraflores

Only 30 minutes later we checked in at our hotel – the El Patio in Miraflores. We got such a warm welcome and the journey started amazingly.

It has a been a long and fatiguing trip to get to Peru but we were sure that it was worth it. We were pretty excited about the following weeks that were lying in front of us.

I am back!

I am back from Peru and the experience still resonates in my mind and my heart.

Paracas beach

 I will tell you about each and every day of this trip - but please be patient if this takes some time. I want to remember each and every moment and write it down as accurate as possible adding some photos I took along the way.

These are the hard facts about the trip: We (my best friend and I) spent 21 days in Peru visiting 11 cities. We travelled almost 2500 miles - mostly by bus. We shot around 5000 (!) photos and I recorded 79 videos. We covered everything from sea level up to 5022 meters above sea level. The longest bus ride lastet 38 hours and we encountered avalanches, rock falls and flooded streets. We ate wonderful dishes and tried Alpacha. We went down the deepest canyon of the world - twice as deep as the grand canyon and we visited Machu Picchu - which for me was the most amazing experience ever.

Arequipa

We met wonderful people, slept in nice hotels, had just 2 days of rain and for the rest the most amazing weather ever. We never argued and laughed SO much all the time.

It was breathtaking, inspiring, exciting, emotional and definitely a journey we will always remember!